Let's Play a Little Game
by Sassy Lil Scorpio
Summary: -Mockingjay- When President Coin suggests having a final Hunger Games using the Capitol's children, Katniss Everdeen agrees with the idea...or does she really?


**Let's Play a Little Game...**

**A Hunger Games Fanfiction by Sassy Lil Scorpio**

**Disclaimer: **Katniss Everdeen, President Coin, and all other names and occurrences are the property of Suzanne Collins. The author makes no claim of ownership. No monetary gain is being made from this work.

**Summary: **-Mockingjay- President Coin suggests having a final Hunger Games using the Capitol's children and Katniss Everdeen agreed with the idea...or did she really?

**Rating: **T

**Author's Notes: **I wrote this story after rereading the end of Mockingjay. At first, I was surprised and disappointed that Katniss agreed with President Coin's suggestion to submit the Capitol's children to a final Hunger Games. When I thought about it more, I had different ideas as to why she went along with it, and wrote this fanfiction as a result. Reading other fans' thoughts on this subject also helped me to critically think about Katniss' decision. I used direct quotes from the novel to help write this story.

**Dedication:** For Yonique, my god-daughter, who greatly enjoys The Hunger Games trilogy. I love you.

**oOo**

"What has been proposed is that in lieu of eliminating the entire Capitol population, we have a final, symbolic Hunger Games, using the children directly related to those who held the most power."

President's Coin tone is flat. I'm used to her deadpan voice, the same voice she uses when she conducts meetings and delegates orders for us rebels to follow through on. This time, her wooden voice makes the hairs on the back of my neck prickle and goosebumps coat my flesh. It's her suggestion and the nonchalant way she states it that brings about this reaction in me, and yet, I contain how repulsed I feel. I make sure I contain it as I listen to the others' reactions.

"Are you joking?"

Peeta is outraged and I don't blame him. After all he's been through...what we experienced together in both Hunger Games in which we were tributes, his family dead, the severe torture he endured...the idea of another Hunger Games is sickening. What makes it worse is to use the Capitol's children. Although I hate the Capitol and all the blood on their hands from years of slaughtered tributes...I don't see the justice in using their children. Blood begets more blood. When does the cycle end?

I'm sure Peeta is thinking these thoughts. It wouldn't surprise me if he is and I believe him asking if this is a joke, is his way of speaking those thoughts aloud. My thoughts are confirmed when he makes it clear where he stands.

"I vote no, of course! We can't have another Hunger Games!" His eyes are wide and he is obviously horrified that a suggestion like this would even be considered.

I'm proud of Peeta Mellark. The boy with the bread is far stronger than anyone has ever given him credit for. Including me. And his strength has nothing to do with being able to pick up a sack of flour weighing a hundred pounds.

I echo Peeta's thoughts—in my mind. Not aloud for President Coin to hear. I'm glad that Peeta has the guts to challenge President Coin when I don't have the luxury of doing so. I know that for me to openly disagree with this idea would further confirm to Coin that I am a threat. Boggs' words resound in my mind:

"_You're a threat. You're the face of the rebellion. You may have more influence than any other single person."_

Right now, the best thing to do is to stay quiet as I listen to everyone's reactions to President Coin's ridiculous suggestion. To openly agree or disagree, especially the latter, might influence the rest of the victors sitting around the table. It would also seal my fate at Coin's hands. The conversation I had with Boggs resounds in my mind...

"_Don't trust them. Don't go back. Kill Peeta. Do what you came to do."_

President Coin sent Peeta to join us, knowing his mind was extremely distorted after the Capitol had tortured him and hijacked his mind. He couldn't tell what was real or fake. She knew Peeta had tried to strangle me when he first returned to us...and she knew he would try to kill me again if he joined us in the mission to take down the Capitol. Even though I had fought for Peeta to stay alive, President Coin had always maintained control. Always manipulated. And always played her warped games.

Games...

Better to use Peeta to take me out, than to do it herself.

Games...

There's always the possibility of killing Peeta before he kills me...I have thought about it.

Games...

Of course, the best outcome would be for Peeta and I to kill each other, especially after the nightlock incident from the 74th Hunger Games. If we kill each other, I'm sure Coin would be thrilled.

You play a sick game, Coin, I think to myself, as I watch her listen to everyone else's reactions. It's time for me to play a little game with you.

I focus again on everyone in front of me. Haymitch has just asked if it was Plutarch's idea. No, it was Coin's. I notice the malicious smirk that crosses her face when she says _"it was mine". S_he makes no effort to hide her glee. As the seconds pass, I find myself growing more unsettled and I keep my hands settled on my lap under the table so that when they clench into fists, Coin doesn't see it. If she did, she would see an obvious sign of my true feelings about what she's proposing.

I'm not surprised by Johanna's response. I even understand why she would agree to having the Capitol be forced to witness their own children be slaughtered and have it be considered a game. Johanna has no one left to love as she once told me. Perhaps she wants the Capitol to experience the same thing. Their only son or daughter, viciously murdered at the hands of another child from the same land.

Enobaria's response shocks me: "Let them have a taste of their own medicine."

Her words force me to realize that not all tributes from District 2 enjoyed the kill-or-be-killed games. Not all of them viewed the fight for their lives as mere sport to enjoy, watch, and cheer on. I remember Cato's bloodlust, his quickness to kill the boy from District 3 by snapping his neck after I destroyed their supplies in the 74th Hunger Games. Clove, and the backpack that saved me from her thrown knife, after she killed the boy from District 7 during the bloodbath. Would they have the same reaction as Enobaria? Would they agree that the Capitol should sacrifice their children to these bloody games as payback for all that has been lost? Even though Cato volunteered...in the end, he was a pawn of the Capitol's games just as much as I was. Just like Peeta, Haymitch, Rue, Thresh, Foxface, Marvel, Glimmer, Beetee, Wiress, Mags, Enobaria and the thousands who met their deaths at such a young age.

They were all pawns, mere game pieces to be thrown and tossed around. Or like me, a chess piece for Coin to manipulate. I don't want to be just a piece in her games. I shiver at this thought, remembering the night Peeta said this and how at that time, I didn't understand at all. And now I do. I understand more than ever.

Our lives being thrown away for the Capitol's entertainment under President Snow's tyranny. Destroying unity among the districts, or even harmony between people by pitting them against each other—it's all just a sick game. Suddenly I think of Annie and Finnick. Finnick and what he shared with me about Annie, what she witnessed in the 70th Hunger Games, how the Capitol tortured her, the trauma that brought about her insanity... Annie seizes my attention when she mentions him.

"I vote no with Peeta." Her voice is soft, and yet, there's an undeniable firmness in it. "So would Finnick if he were here."

Johanna's response makes it clear that she doesn't get it. She says Finnick's not here because Snow's mutts killed him. Yes, Snow is the enemy, but we have an even greater opponent sitting in our midst. I want to yell at Johanna! Doesn't she get it! It's not about Snow anymore...it's about President Coin and the atrocious idea she's proposing! It takes all my power to not react or respond to Johanna's words. Before my conversation with President Snow, I would've fully agreed with her. I know it's not about Snow anymore...not after the conversation him and I had in the rose garden.

We've dethroned a cruel and remorseless tyrant...and we're about to replace him with one who is far more manipulative and dangerous. President Alma Coin. You cannot voice dissent to her without being seen as a threat. And she has long since viewed me as a threat to be eliminated for a long time now. Now that I've done what she's wanted by playing her little Mockingjay, I'm expendable to her. Most of all, there is no telling how far she will go to maintain control over the districts and the Capitol. She has clearly shown that she does not have anyone's best interest in mind except her own.

My heart starts to pound a little faster as I repeat it like a mantra inside my head: _It's time for me to play a little game with you, Coin._ Now my heart is hammering against my chest when I hear Beetee's protests against Coin's idea. I'm grateful that he says what I cannot and will not say: that we need to stop viewing each other as enemies and that unity is essential for our survival. Someone _must _say it and it cannot come from me.

It's down to me and Haymitch now. I review everything in my mind—from the moment Primrose's name was pulled from the girls' reaping bowl to where I'm at now, holding a rose from Snow's garden. My hand are on the table and I hold the rose and focus intently on it. I think of her name, almost part my lips to speak it aloud—

_Primrose..._

Knowing who is responsible for her death sends a wave of fury over me. And it's not Snow...

I make sure to stare at the rose so that what I'm feeling inwardly doesn't show itself outwardly.

When I finally speak up, I look at no one. Only the rose. "I vote yes...for Prim."

There. If Coin doesn't fully grasp the implication as to why I agreed with her deranged idea, then I have succeeded in my game to outwit her. It's not over yet. We're down to one person: Haymitch.

Haymitch watches me. I can feel his eyes on me. In the beginning, when he first became mentor to Peeta and me, we appeared to be at odds with each other. Over time, I realized it was actually Haymitch who understood me. Or it's more accurate to say, that since losing Primrose, that I understand _him_. I understand the severe and irreplaceable loss he has experienced in his life. His family and girlfriend deliberately murdered after he was crowned victor in the second Quarter Quell.

"I'm with the Mockingjay."

Thank you, Haymitch. You truly understand me. My lips do not betray a smile of acknowledgment at the words he carefully used. _Mockingjay. _The symbol of the rebellion and revolution. Not Katniss.

_Mockingjay. _

Right then, I know Haymitch knows why I agreed to the Hunger Games. He knows what I truly think and feel about Coin's oh-so-brilliant plan to murder Capitol children. He knows that sometimes you have to play games with the GameMaster. In this case, the GameMaster is none other than President Alma Coin.

I remain quiet even when Coin announces that she's got the vote of approval to hold Hunger Games in which the Capitol's children will be involuntary participants...and of course, that it's time for Snow's execution. I give her the rose from Snow's garden and request for Snow to have it worn over his heart. This final gesture will convince her that I plan to execute Snow. I had told her sometime ago that I would be the one to kill Snow.

So I allow her to continue to believe that. It is true that I had wanted to be the one to murder him. It's also true that I see Coin for the sick woman she is, who will dominate and sacrifice more innocent human lives. But I don't let her see that I know her true character. I don't let on that I know she is responsible for Prim's death.

I play a good game, play the compliant and obedient Katniss Everdeen that she thinks she can control. I know how to survive...and I know how to play games to ensure my and others' survival. Those others' include countless people from the Districts and the Capitol. This my my game now and it's my strategy...and Coin is none the wiser. She gladly takes the rose and states in that same stiff voice that carries a hint of triumph:

"Of course. And I'll be sure he knows about the Games."

When she smiles, I don't smile back. It's unnecessary to do so. I have already played enough games to last me a lifetime. And this game with Coin will be the last one I play...

**The End**


End file.
